Appam and Vegetable Kurma

One of the favourite breakfast combinations of Keralites, spongy Appam and spicy Vegetable Kurma. Very delicious and healthy breakfast dish to start the day off. Making soft spongy appam is not an easy job to many. Appam is one of mascots of many cooks to show off their culinary skills especially in Kerala. I just love the way my mom cooks appam. It took me one full year  to learn the whole process of making spongy and lacy Appams. Try this, definitely you will enjoy this.

 

Ingredients for Appam:

• Raw rice (white) – 1 cup
• Cooked rice – 1/4 cup (boiled rice cooked)
• Coconut scraped – 1/2 cup
• Sugar (crystal) – 1 tbsp
• Yeast – pinch
• Salt to taste

Method of Preparation:

• Wash and soak rice in enough water for 4-5 hrs
• Grind all the ingredients to a smooth paste with 3/4 cup water
• Cover and keep aside for fermentation for 7-8 hrs (Fermentation time will be depending on the room temperature)
• Mix the batter with a ladle (if the batter is too thick, can loosen the batter with coconut milk rather than water to the required consistency)
• Heat a non-stick wok (appachatty), pour 1 ladle full of batter, lift the wok and rotate it to spread the batter inside, cover and cook over medium heat until its laces turn slightly brown in colour
• Repeat the procedure until all the batter is used up

Don’t stir the leftover batter in frequently because it breaks the bubbles in the batter and make the appam so hard. We can make 12-13 appams with the given measurement of ingredients.

Ingredients for Vegetable Kurma:

• Carrot – 1 small, cut into small cubes
• French beans – 5, cut into small pieces
• Potato – 1 medium, small cubes
• Cauliflower – 2 big florets, cut into small flowers
• Green peas – handful, dry or fresh
• Green chilly – 5, cut into half
• Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Onion – 1 medium, finely chopped
• Cashew nuts – 10, soak and grind to a smooth paste
• Coconut scraped – 1 cup, extract milk with 1 cup of lukewarm water

Whole spices:

• Cinnamon stick – 2” piece
• Green cardamom – 4, crushed
• Cloves – 4-6
• Fennel seeds/ saunf – 1 tsp

Method of preparation:

• Pressure cook cut vegetables and green peas in 1 cup water with turmeric powder and salt
• Heat ghee in a wok/sauce pan, fry whole spices
• Add cut chilies and finely chopped onion with a pinch of salt and fry until it turns slightly transparent
• Add cashew paste and fry till its raw smell disappears
• stir in cooked vegetables and let it cook over simmer
• When it is done, add coconut milk and leave it over simmering and bring it to boil
• Remove from stove  when the first bubble appears
• Serve it cool with appam or roti of your choice